Archinect - News

ICON's first 3D printed CODEX homes come to market in Texas

2024-07-16T11:24:00-04:00

The first eight 3D printed homes from construction tech company ICON’s new CODEX architectural catalog are coming to Wimberley, Texas, as part of an initial release intended for the Austin area market.

The single-story homes, currently under construction, belong to the TexNext and AlphaBeta collections and range from four to five bedrooms and 2,800 to 4,000 square feet, featuring a mix of luxury and sensibilities to the state's unique history and architectural heritage.

ALPHABETA S. Image: courtesy of ICON

Residences from the TexNext line are designed in partnership with Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). According to the company, each of the homes included in the new release is designed to optimize thermal performance and energy efficiency, rating between 45 and 60% more efficient than typical homes of their size in the latter category.

RANCH MESA. Image courtesy ICON

These will feature ICON's proprietary CarbonX concrete, which, when paired with the company's 3D printed wall system and robot...

Updating KPF’s quest to deliver Texas’ new tallest skyscraper

2024-06-10T10:37:00-04:00

Contractor Brett Bickford recently described his firm DPR's work on their “dream job” constructing the new 74-story KPF-designed The Waterline skyscraper in Austin. The project that will yield 2.7 million square feet of space and a mixed-use program that includes 351 luxury residences, a 251-key hotel, and 700,000-square-foot office component will become the state’s new tallest building in 2026. Construction recently reached the halfway mark, with I.M. Pei’s 1981 JPMorgan Chase Tower in Houston dead in its sights and the adjacent Lady Bird Lake and Waller Creek water features anchoring it in the periphery.

New border wall commences in South Texas despite landowner resistance

2019-10-25T12:36:00-04:00

...construction workers on Wednesday began building the first new border wall in South Texas just south of the town of Donna...it will connect to an existing border wall that was built in 2008 under the 2006 Secure Fence Act. On Sept. 29, CBP in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a contract to Gibraltar-Caddell Joint Venture for up to $296 million to build 22 miles of noncontiguous border wall starting east of Santa Ana.

The new construction has prompted concern from locals in the area, as the work has begun on private land.

According to Border Report, "many other landowners in the region have so far refused CBP access to survey their lands, and have not sold their properties for wall construction."